Braised Lentils with Roasted Butternut Squash

True story: for the first time in 4 years, I forgot to pick up my CSA veggies. Well, I remembered, but by then, I couldn't make it work. I guess Labor Day threw off my mental "what day is it today" track. The Colvins are very forgiving types, thank goodness. I think we're going to be able to work it out for me to get a box this weekend. So, I don't know if you will be getting butternut squash this weekend or not, but if you're like me, you may still have one or two lying around. I usually eat up the more perishable stuff first. Good thing because last night, I could still whip up a meal with CSA veggies!

This recipe is simple, but takes a bit of time to cook. It's delicious, too, despite the unassuming ingredient list. I'm not a huge fan of chunks of butternut squash; generally, I prefer the pureed recipes like our favorite Butternut Squash Soup. But the combination in this recipe works beautifully. I didn't think to take a picture of all the Colvin veggies that went into this recipe, but I used onions and garlic from them in addition to the squash! This works as a good side dish for sausage (smoked, flavored chicken, etc.) as well as a vegan/vegetarian main dish.

Braised Lentils with Roasted Butternut Squash
~adapted slightly from How to Cook Everything, 10th ann. edition

• 1 cup lentils, brown or green
• 1 small onion or 1/2 of a large one
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 c. peeled, cubed butternut squash (1/2-inch to 1-inch cubes) from a medium squash
• 2 T. olive oil plus extra
• 2 c. chicken or vegetable stock
• 1/2 c. red wine (can use white for a more subtle taste)
• 1 bay leaf
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Toss squash cubes with enough oil to coat and roast at 375 degrees until tender and caramelized (about 20 minutes or so). (I sprinkled some salt and pepper over the cubes as well.)
2. Meanwhile, in a medium pot, sauté onion over medium high heat until translucent. Add garlic and stir for a minute or so until garlic is fragrant. 
3. Add lentils, stock, wine, and bay leaf to pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, partially cover, and simmer for about 25 minutes.
4. Taste, adjust seasonings, and simmer until lentils are done to your liking. Removing the lid will help some of the excess liquid cook off (which I like). When lentils are just about done, gently stir in squash pieces to reheat.

~Serves 4-6

Braised Chard with Olive Oil and Rice

A few weeks ago, my friend Suzanne commented that she thinks chard is beautiful, but she doesn't like it. I've been in that camp until this summer. Now, I'd say that I'm "learning" to like it...in small doses. And this recipe below is one of the recipes we've made a couple of times. Cooked chard tastes like strong cooked spinach--a little grassy--so it goes well with things that would go well with spinach. So, when we got chard (and white carrots!) from the Colvins this past week, we made this recipe again!

Braised Chard with Olive Oil and Rice
~adapted from How to Cook Everything, 10th ann. edition

• 1/2 pound chard, washed and trimmed*
• 1/3 c. olive oil
• 2 small carrots, roughly chopped
• salt and pepper
• 1/3 c. white rice
• juice of 1/2 a lemon

*original recipe calls for 1 pound; we get about 1/2 pound at a time in our share, and that is PLENTY for me in this recipe. In addition, I upped the rice from 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup. 

1. Wash chard again (one washing isn't usually sufficient for leafy greens!). Slice ends off stem--any frayed or "old" looking ends. Separate leaves from stems. Slice stems (like you would celery) and cut leaves into wide ribbons. Keep separate.
2. Put all but a tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When hot, add chard stems and carrots, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. 
3. When chard is tender, add chard leaves, more salt and pepper, the rice, and 1 3/4 cups water. Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes, or until water is absorbed (you may have to lower the heat). You're looking for a moist mixture, not a soupy one. 
4. Can be served hot or at room temperature. Before serving drizzle with remaining olive oil and lemon juice.

~serves 4-6

Food Traditions: Milkshake Day!

We hear a lot these days about America's obesity, our addiction to food, how fat our children are, etc. And there are certainly some legitimate concerns. But sometimes it goes too far in the other direction (i.e. no birthday cupcakes at school...). I've tried to strike a balance in our "treats" at home. One of those balances is "Milkshake Day."

EVERY day, when I pick my daughter up from school, she immediately asks if I have a treat for her. (Where did this come from? I don't know.) When I say no (most days, to be sure), she then starts asking for milkshakes, fries, smoothies (depending on whatever restaurant we're driving by). I finally got the brilliant idea for "Milkshake Day." And the complaints have certainly dwindled.

She goes to a co-op that meets three days/week--Monday, Wednesday, Thursday. On the last Thursday of the month, we have Milkshake Day. We stop by Chick-Fil-A and everyone gets a milkshake. Doesn't break the bank or the waistline and everyone looks forward to it. I'm considering doing something similar with a once a week dessert night; why do kids think we need a dessert after every meal? We've never done that and it still seems to be an expectation. But maybe if they know we'll have dessert every Friday night, they can look forward to that instead of whining every night for it.

What are YOUR Food Traditions in your family?

Consumme Rice

A great, old-fashioned rice casserole!

• 1 c. rice
• 1 stick butter
• 1 can consumme
• 1 can water

Put rice in round casserole dish. Slice butter and dot over rice. Pour consumme and water over rice. Cover and bake 1 hour at 325 degrees.

Serves 4-6

Classic Macaroni and Cheese

Some homemade macaroni and cheese is to die for; other versions are not quite as good as that ubiquitous "Kraft dinner" my kids love. This is my favorite homemade version; the keys are lots of salt (part of the charm of the orange boxed stuff) and doing most of the cooking on the stove instead of in the oven.

Side Dish Serving Suggestions: (if you use the mac-n-cheese as a main dish) green peas and baked sweet potatoes

From Cook's Illustrated May/June 2004

• 1 pound elbow macaroni
• 1 T. plus 1 t. salt
• 5 T. unsalted butter
• 6 T. flour
• 1 1/2 t. powdered mustard
• 1/4 t. cayenne (optional)
• 5 c. milk (skim, low-fat, or whole)
• 8 oz. Monterey Jack cheese, shredded (2 cups)
• 8 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (2 cups)
• 6 slices good-quality white bread, torn into rough pieces (optional)
• 3 T. cold unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces (optional)

1. For optional bread crumb topping: Pulse bread and 3 T. butter in food processor until crumbs are no larger than 1/8-inch, ten to fifteen 1-second pulses. Set aside.
2. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat broiler (if using bread crumb topping). Bring 4 quarts water to boil in Dutch oven over high heat. Add macaroni and 1 tablespoon salt; cook until pasta is tender (not al dente). Drain pasta and set aside in colander.
3. In now-empty Dutch oven, heat butter over medium-high heat until foaming. Add flour, mustard, and cayenne (if using) and whisk well to combine. Continue whisking until mixture becomes fragrant and deepens in color, about 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk; bring mixture to boil, whisking constantly (mixture must reach full boil to fully thicken). Reduce heat to medium and simmer, whisking occasionally, until thickened to consistency of heavy cream, about 5 minutes. Off heat, whisk in cheeses and 1 teaspoon salt until cheeses fully melted. Add pasta and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is steaming and heated through, about 6 minutes.
4. If using bread crumb topping, transfer mixture to broiler-safe 9 by 13-inch baking dish and sprinkle evenly with bread crumbs. Broil until 2 crumbs are deep golden, 3 to 5 minutes, rotating pan if necessary for even browning. Cool about 5 minutes, then serve.

Serves 6-8 as a main course; 10-12 as a side dish

Grandmother's Cornbread Dressing: Part Legend, Part Process, and Part Modern Counterpart

AAahhh.... Those of you not from the South have probably had few experiences, if any, with real Southern cornbread dressing. That "stuff" you may have gotten in a cafeteria or at Cracker Barrel is moderately similar in flavor but usually gloppy--sort of stiff and sticky.

Real Southern cornbread dressing is simply a perfect marriage of leftover biscuits and cornbread, leftover chicken or turkey stock, and a few veggies. Simple, eh? Like most old-fashioned favorites, this recipe is much harder to make if you don't already have cornbread and biscuits lying around. The secret? Make them ahead of time and freeze them in the amount specified below (and, you should make Southern cornbread and short biscuits). When you want to make the dressing, half the work will be done! (You can also freeze homemade chicken or turkey stock if you're in the habit of making that.)

As with many old family favorites, it was hard to pin down an actual "recipe" for this. If you've had dressing before and/or have made it before, the version my grandmother gave me will suffice. If you're still in the dark, see below for a more modern, more specific, but very similar version. Carrie and I are going to work on getting some pictures up of the texture, in progress, so you can see what your goal is.

Handed-Down Version (no doubt, girls used to spend more time at the stove with their mothers and this version would have been sufficient)

Mix crumbled cornbread and biscuits together. Cook 1 onion, 2-3 stalks celery, and some parsley until soft. Dump into cornbread/biscuit mixture. Add liquid/stock until you have a moist dressing. Add salt and pepper to taste (and poultry seasoning if desired). Bake.

Simple, eh?

For us more modern folks who don't make dressing on a regular basis and/or have always eaten it but never actually made it, here is a more prescriptive--and very similar--recipe from an old family favorite cookbook: The Chattanooga Cookbook. The term "modern" is a bit of a misnomer; the cookbook was published in 1970 and is out of print. I've changed the cookbook recipe a touch to reflect how my family makes dressing.

Dressing for Chicken or Turkey

• 5 cups crumbled cornbread
• 1 cup crumbled biscuits (about 4 large biscuits)
• 1-2 onions, chopped
• 1 cup celery, chopped (1-2 stalks)
• ~1/4 bunch of fresh parsley, leaves only, chopped
• 2 eggs, beaten (if doubling, just use 3, not 4)
• chicken or turkey stock (roughly half a can)
• salt and pepper to taste
• poultry seasoning to taste (my mom uses ~ 1/2 t. per recipe; I use ~ 1 t. per recipe)

1. If your cornbread was not cooked with/in bacon grease, then saute your veggies in bacon grease until they are quite soft. If your cornbread was cooked with the magic ingredient, then boil your veggies and parsley until quite soft and the liquid in which they were cooked is roughly the same height as your veggies. (I know, it's still a bit vague...). Crumble your cornbread and biscuits (should look like above photo).
2. Mix veggies (drained, if boiled, and water reserved) with crumbled cornbread and biscuits. Add some seasonings. Add some cooking water from veggies and some stock to make a moist mixture (my mom says about half a can will do the trick). You want it wet but not soupy; it will dry out some as it cooks. This is sort of a "you get better at it the more you practice" kind of thing. (You can see from the picture that it will be fairly "wet" looking.)
3. Put in greased casserole dish and bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes; it will look noticeably drier with a nice slightly brown "crust" on the top.

Serves 6-8; can easily be doubled

Carrie's Island Rice

This is one of Carrie's specialties, modeled after a similar dish at Bone Fish. It goes well with Caribbean entrees, such as fish, seafood, and grilled meats or chicken. Enjoy!

• 1 box Uncle Ben's Original Wild Rice Blend
• 1 can coconut water (check Hispanic areas of grocery store)
• 1/3 c. almonds, sliced
• 1/2 large red pepper, chopped
• butter
• 1 small box Raisins (lunch box size--not the micro box)

Prepare rice according to package directions, substituting coconut water (plus additional water if needed) for the water called for on package. While rice is cooking, saute red pepper and almonds in a little bit of butter until almonds are toasted and pepper is slightly softened. Add to rice when rice is done; add raisins.

Serves 4-6

Spinach Orzo

This is one my husband's favorite side dishes. Its flavors work well with a simple piece of grilled chicken or fish. The finished dish is reminiscent of a risotto.

Recipe from Betty Crocker's Quick and Easy Cookbook

• 1 t. butter
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 1/2 c. coarsely shredded carrot (1 small)
• 2 c. chicken broth
• 1 c. uncooked orzo (6 oz.)
• 1 1/2 c. thinly sliced fresh spinach
• 2 T. grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 T. chopped fresh basil leaves (1 t. dried)
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Melt butter in 3-quart saucepan over medium heat. Cook garlic and carrot in butter about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally, until carrot is tender.
2. Stir in broth, pasta, and spinach. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until broth is absorbed. Stir in remaining ingredients before serving.

Makes 4 generous servings

Simple Risotto (and a killer "leftover" variation)

I wouldn't ordinarily make risotto--especially as a side dish--because it involves a bit of work and attention. However, after making the "leftover"variation (see below the main recipe), I'm a total convert. My family devoured it, it was inexpensive, and it's fairly healthy as a main dish; it's also SUPER tasty.

Recipe from How to Cook Everything, 10th ann. edition

• 2 T. butter or olive oil, to taste (I used olive oil)
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• large pinch saffron threads (optional--I left out)
• 1 1/2 cups Arborio or other short- or medium-grain rice
• salt and freshly ground black pepper*
• 1/2 c. dry white wine or water*
• 4 to 6 cups chicken, beef, or vegetable stock
• 2 to 4 T. softened butter or extra virgin olive oil*
• Freshly grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

*If you're using homemade, well-seasoned stock, you may need no extra salt and the wine might also be easily left out. Also, depending on whether you skim the fat off of your homemade stock, you might not need the extra butter/oil at the end.

1. Put the 2 tablespoons butter/oil in a large, deep nonstick (or heavy duty stainless) skillet over medium heat. When hot, add onion (and saffron) and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion softens, 3 to 5 minutes.
2. Add the rice and cook, stirring occasionally, until it is glossy and coated with butter or oil, 2 to 3 minutes. Add a little salt (if needed--see note above) and pepper, then the white wine or water. Stir and let the liquid bubble away.
3. Use a ladle to begin adding the stock, 1/2 cup or so at a time, stirring after each addition. When the stock is evaporated, add more. The mixture should be neither soupy nor dry. Keep the heat at medium to medium-high and stir frequently.
4. Begin tasting the rice 20 minutes after you add it; you want it to be tender but still with a tiny bit of crunch; it could take as long as 30 minutes to reach this stage. When it does, stir in the softened butter or oil and at least 1/2 cup of Parmesan, if using. Taste, adjust the seasoning, and serve immediately, passing additional Parmesan at the table if you like.

Serves 4-6

Brown Rice Variation
You can buy short-grain brown rice, which you can use in this recipe. You should know, though, that it will need 8+ cups of stock/water and take more than an hour. Tasty, but tedious.

Leftover Variation
Make the Herb Roasted Chicken (whole chicken style) and then make stock that night: throw the carcass in a pot and add a bunch of water. Salt if desired. Let it boil down until you have about 8 cups or so. This will give you a very rich (and very flavorful) stock. Make the risotto above, throwing in 2 cups or so finely chopped leftover chicken with the rice and using the homemade stock. This was so perfectly seasoned for us that we left out the extra cheese (yes, we really did!), and didn't miss the wine or any added salt. Very, very tasty--and such a classy use for leftovers! You could do this with any well-seasoned, homemade chicken stock , but the herb-roasted variation really seemed to go nicely with the idea of risotto.

Foolproof Brown Rice

In my days of more leisurely cooking, I subscribed to Cook's Illustrated--perhaps the best cooking magazine out there. It often had recipes for really great ordinary things in it like this rice recipe (along with very exotic and time-consuming dishes like Chicken Biryani). This is now the only way I cook brown rice (and I never cook white rice). This rice is not mushy, very nutty in flavor, and freezes great! (With some rice in the freezer, you really can whip up a stir fry in no time or pull out a can of beans and have beans and rice in a jiffy).

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated #68 (May-June, 2004)

1 1/2 cups long-, medium-, or short-grain brown rice
2 1/3 cups water
2 teaspoons unsalted butter or vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 375 degrees. Spread rice in an 8-inch square glass baking dish*.
2. Bring water and butter or oil to boil, covered, in medium saucepan over high heat; once boiling, immediately stir in salt and pour water over rice. Cover baking dish tightly with doubled layer of foil. Bake rice 1 hour, until tender.
3. Remove baking dish from oven and uncover. Fluff rice with dinner fork, then cover dish with clean kitchen towel; let stand 5 minutes. Uncover and let rice stand 5 minutes longer; serve immediately.

Serves 4 to 6 (to double, use 13x9-inch pan; cooking time remains the same)

*may use 8-inch ceramic dish with lid instead of glass pan.

Mexican Rice Skillet

A great alternative to Spanish rice (which I don't much care for). Directions sound weird, but they work. Have all ingredients ready to go.... I used a 12-inch skillet.

Recipe from Extending the Table (recipe reworded slightly)

2 T. oil
1 c. uncooked rice
1 small onion, minced
5 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 c. water
1/2 t. salt
1 c. boiling water or broth/stock
2 medium green peppers, cut in strips
1 c. canned or frozen corn
8 oz. sour cream or plain yogurt
shredded sharp cheese to cover

1. Heat oil in skillet. Add rice. Saute 1-2 minutes, stirring gently.
2. Add onion, garlic, 1/2 c. water, and salt. Cook, stirring constantly, until water is absorbed (approximately 5 minutes).
3. Add boiling water/broth, peppers, and corn. Cover and simmer about 20 minutes without stirring until liquid is absorbed (it will look slightly underdone). Remove from heat.
4. Spread sour cream over top and sprinkle with cheese. Cover and let stand 5-10 minutes until cheese melts.

Serves 4-6